Is This Really a Bad Idea for Our Members?

About two years ago I made a new rule for myself. I say yes to things that scare me before I have a chance to fear myself out of them. So ask me to be a guest on a podcast – yes! Ask me to present a webinar – yes! Ask me to speak at an event – yes! Ask me to get filmed in video – yes! The good news is the more I practice the less scary these things are to do and the easier it is to say yes.

As an aside, I found that all this “yessing” has had some unintended consequences. It has leaked into my personal life when last weekend I found myself dangling in climbing gear off, to my eye, a ridiculously impossible 40 foot high obstacle course. Thank goodness I have an untrained eye for that sort of thing.

We learn we can hide behind feelings of intuition

If an idea sounds bad at first, it is. Most ideas we hear sound bad. They are not right for us or not right for our association or not right for our members. Why do most ideas we hear sound bad? Well, there’s the truly bad idea. Like a sponsoring a networking skinny dip in the hotel pool (unless you lead that kind of association). There are also ideas that are good but that are not for us like one day virtual conferences for members who crave being face to face.

And then there are the ideas that we are afraid of. The feelings of fear convince us they are bad ideas. It is worth some time to be introspective and decide if the idea is bad or if the idea is one we are afraid of. We are conditioned to say no. So often we slide things under the heading of bad when perhaps there are many great ideas that are just a little scary… for now.